Transcript

American Family Radio is dedicated to sharing the gospel and promoting godly values

>> Mark Ose: When you hear the letters afr, there are a lot of things that could come to mind. Automotive Finders Resource, Alligator Frying Research, or the association of Flying Rednecks. All great organizations, no doubt. But we hope the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear AFR is American Family Radio, a, listener supported network dedicated to sharing the gospel and promoting godly values.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: God expects maturity in us. we should not be comfortable living with habitual sins.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So that's a news cycle item, is it? The top news story to God? No, because he warned us about all of this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Now, I don't care how nice you think you are, if you're not telling someone the truth, you're not being loving to them.

>> Mark Ose: Make no mistake, we're not anglers from Red Bay, but we are afr, American Family Radio. And we're happy you're listening. Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

Steve Paisley Jordan hosts Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network

>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. We just met some great listeners who are in town. By in town, I mean here in Tupelo, Mississippi.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The ACTIVATE Summit.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I met some, Roy and Chelsea from Arkansas, Jerry and Brandy from. And they got seven kids.

>> Steve Jordahl: They were activated believing.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, they're from Georgia. And they brought the whole fam.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And then Troy, Kristin from Illinois from the Carbondale area, and Richard and Susan from Georgia as well. Just met those folks.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, yeah, you mentioned this morning there's, family from Oregon.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Drove across the country.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, they flew.

>> Fred Jackson: Flew.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, they flew in from Oregon. and boy, their arms tired.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, man. And the youngman.

>> Tim Wildmon: You hadn't heard that one in a while.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's a Hannah Youngman joke.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is that who said that?

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: all right, so anyway, yeah, we got folks from all over the country in town for the ACTIVATE conference here at American Family Association, AFR headquarters. town, the community. We're not hosting that here at our building, but some folks are touring our building, our studios. Steve Paisley Jordan joins us now. Good morning, Steve.

>> Steve Jordahl: Good morning. I met that family with seven, kids. the replacement rate in this country is 2.1. Right. I had two. So I told them. And I'm claiming this. You guys can't have it. I am claiming 1/10 of, of 1 of their kids so that I can meet. I can. So they don't need seven.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good luck. Good luck with that.

>> Steve Jordahl: No, that's, I'm, I'm just.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Who Are you claiming it with the world?

>> Tim Wildmon: He's trying to get some kind of tax advantage or something.

>> Ed Vitagliano: M. With them.

>> Tim Wildmon: They.

>> Steve Jordahl: Them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They.

American Family Radio is going on a Holy Land tour in 2026

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Hey, let me mention real quickly that, our Holy Land tour in March of 2026, that will be before, World War Three. so, hey, and if we're over in the Holy Land and World War 3 happens, what better place to go out?

>> Ed Vitagliano: There you go. So the distance to heaven is shorter.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm saying. It's a new Jerusalem right there close by. So now we're going to Israel to see the land of the Bible, to see where Jesus walked and taught. It's going to be a wonderful experience next March. We've been doing this for 27, 28 years, something like that. And we're, going back again and we'd, love for you to come with us. We've got like 40 people signed up right now, so we have room for like a hundred, total. Yeah. 100, 110. Right in there. So, we're, you know, whatever that is. 30, 40% filled up. So that's in March 2026. So if you want to read all about it and the, see the cost, the itinerary, everything, here's here. And by the way, Dr. Alex McFarland, who's going to be joining us momentarily, he's going with us.

>> Steve Jordahl: Oh.

>> Tim Wildmon: With brother Burt Harper. The Exploring the Word, guys are going with us on this Holy Land tour in March of 2026. So here's the website. To read all about it, go to wildmon group.com wildmon not man. Wildmon group.com. and you can read all about the.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Alex and Bert going. That's going to fill it up when folks hear about that.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's why I'm saying it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Now. But, yeah, you don't want to get. We don't want to. We're going to. We'll fill up probably about September.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: At the rate for the March. March tour. So I'm just telling you where we're headed in that direction. So, if you want to go to Israel with us and Burton, Alex. And it's going to be, a lot of fun as well as just seeing a lot of the great sites there in the Holy land. The wildman group.com is where all the information is at. Are you listening to American Family Radio? So, Alex, you with us?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: I'm, there. Good to hear you.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, we're there, too. And, Amen.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Are you in town yet for the, Activate Summit. You're one of the speakers.

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Almost. I just left Memphis about 45 minutes ago and I'm driving over to Tupelo.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, all right, all right.

Brian Wilson, the genius behind the Beach Boys, passed away after dementia

Steve, you were telling us some news that took place that we wanted to talk to Alex about. Right. Yeah.

>> Steve Jordahl: Ah. So Brian Wilson, the talent, genius behind the Beach Boys, he was the one that wrote all their music. he passed away, after a battle with dementia. And, I was just going to, talk a little bit about it, but I knew that Alex was a friend of the band. Let me just play this for you. This is just a little bit. He's, one of these people that when he hears a song, he hears the entire thing.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You're not talking about Alex, you're talking about Brian.

>> Steve Jordahl: Alex maybe too. We'll ask him. But I'm talking about Brian Wilson. All this stuff, he just. He heard it and, he would go into the studio and work with the Wrecking Crew to make sure it was just right. But it was all in his head as things like this. Cut 13.

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Hm.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That can't be easy to do for.

>> Steve Jordahl: No, I mean, well, he heard it. He. He hears all those parts anyway. Alex.

>> Tim Wildmon: It was all his voice.

>> Steve Jordahl: No, that's.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But he wrote all the parts.

>> Steve Jordahl: He wrote that. Yeah. Alex, as I mentioned, was a friend of the band. And Alex, you had, quite a bit of interaction with Brian Wilson. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, you know, Steve, thanks for covering this story because, you know, art gives glory to God. And, the Beach Boys and especially Brian are a fascinating, riveting, quirky, weird story of mid 20th century America. But, the Wilsons were a family that went to the Presbyterian church out there in Hawthorne, California. Brian was very much alienated from his dad. He found solace in music. And it's interesting. In the 1960s, I mean, everybody thinks about, you know, maybe on the rock level, the Beatles and Lennon and McCartney, or on the pop level, like Burt Bacharach or Herb Alpert or something like that. But the interesting thing about it is from. From classical music's Leonard Bernstein to the absolute royalty of pop, everybody said, hey, the guy with the chops is Brian Wilson. Now, I became a fan when I was about 10 years old. My sister got a Beach Boys record and I just became very interested because it was so different. And, you know, Steve, I could go to the piano and anything by Elvis or the Beatles, I could pick it out. But the Beach Boys stuff was just in another universe. And although I did begin to try to pick it out a little bit. But when I became a Christian at 21 years old, I became just very concerned that did Brian and his brothers know the Lord? And, I had many times tried to talk my way backstage to the Beach Boys when they'd come to Greensboro. But I began to pray. I was like, lord Jesus, let me. If I could ever get with Brian Wilson, I want to talk to him about you, Lord. Well, I ended up meeting a guy who became like my best friend for 35 years, Jeffrey Foskett, who. He passed away. Jeff was a devout Christian. Jeff said to me, he said, God let me in this band to be a witness. And long story short, Steve, he was in the bed.

>> Steve Jordahl: he was. Foskett was in the beach voice, right?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah. Fosco's in the beach voice for four decades. And everybody listening has heard his voice on the radio, seen him on all the live clips. Jeffrey died of cancer, anaplastic thyroid cancer in 2023. But, here's the thing. I guess there's a couple of things that I'd like to say, that this is art. That just because it's not straight out of the hymnal doesn't mean there's not God anointed art in the lives of people. And even Brian himself would say that. He would say he tried to give glory to God in his music. And, there's a great film clip from the early 90s where Brian, Brian. Brian said that, you know, the Beach Boys were the biggest thing in the world, and then came the Beatles. And he said he and his brother Carl prayed that they could make music, better than the Beatles. And the interviewer goes, who did you pray to? And Brian says, jesus. And the interviewer says, what did God give you? And Brian said, Pet Sounds and Smile. Now, those albums, I don't know if people listening know, but those albums are routinely said to be like, the two greatest pop albums ever made. Long story short, I had the privilege many times through Jeffrey Foskett to be with Brian. And we talked about Jesus. And I just told him, I said, hey, I'm a fan. You're awesome, but I want to know that you're saved. And he said, I haven't always lived it, but I do believe in Jesus. And I said, you know, tell me what that means. And I said, can we pray together? And Brian had, mental issues. The easy answer is he fried his brain on drugs in the 60s. But it wasn't that. It was very complex. partial Asperger's, partial, schizoaffective disorder. He was gifted musically. He had mental issues. There was abuse. But I'll put it this way. Check out his Christmas album.

Listen to Brian Wilson sing about God and sinners reconciled on Christmas album

It was the spring of O5, and I was speaking in California at a thing called Spirit west coast. And, Brian and Jeffrey called me on the phone and they were picking hymns out of the hymnal for Brian's, Christmas album. And listen to how with gusto he sings about, God and sinners reconciled. And this was shortly after he reaffirmed his faith in Christ. And, I guess I would like for people to realize that God can redeem even the most broken of lives. And beauty can come out of, out of ashes. That's how powerful our savior is.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

Alex McFarland talks about his friendship with Brian Wilson who passed away yesterday

Talking to Alex McFarland about his interaction with Brian Wilson, the, legendary Beach Boys front man and songwriter who passed away yesterday. How old was he?

>> Steve Jordahl: 80 something?

>> Fred Jackson: 82.

>> Steve Jordahl: 82.

>> Tim Wildmon: 82. I was, I just did the, Wikipedia, for what it's worth, on the gentleman who you said was your Jeffrey Fosket.

>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: What was your relationship to him?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, we. We played the same kind of guitar, a Rickenbacker 12 string. And we became friends in 1985. And, we. He was, he was my best friend other than Angie. And, when I proposed to Angie, like, the first person I called was Jeffrey. and we prayed together every month. Sometimes mostly it was by phone, but I mean, I would go to Palm Springs and stay in his house. We'd go over to Palm Desert, Brian Wilson's house. But Jeffrey was like my best friend in the world and a devout Christian.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, the Wikipedia page says this about him, your best friend. Foskett became a fan of the Beach Boys after he heard I get around and became termed to meet. Determined to meet Brian Wilson. In 1976, Basket tracked down Wilson's house in Bel Air, which had a stained glass window resembling the artwork of the 1967 album Wild Honey. After knocking on Wilson's door, he was greeted by a friendly Wilson and was quickly invited into his house as a guest. The two then kept in contact over the years.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I did that once with someone famous. I got arrested.

>> Tim Wildmon: I was going to say that just sounds like a. Stalker. You know what I'm saying? But it. In those days, it was a little bit different.

>> Ed Vitagliano: People used to pick up hitchhikers.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.

>> Steve Jordahl: But anyway, I'm not mistaken. Wild Honey was a. It was a Herb Alfred album.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wild Honey.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I heard a lot of Herbal Burn growing up. My. My parents had a couple of those albums.

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Taste of Honey.

>> Steve Jordahl: Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. What are y' all talking?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: There was a Herb Alpert album called A Taste of Honey. But the Beast Boys album, is Wild Honey. But, you know, it's so wild.

>> Tim Wildmon: There's also a song by Van Morrison called Tupelo Honey. So we need another Honey song. We got three right there. Huh?

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: That's. That's true. But, you know, whenever anybody went into the band, they would, be assigned to spend, like, a day with Brian Wilson to learn. Because seriously, the chord changes are just a, master class in music theory. And, a number of times I would be with, Brian and or Jeffrey Foskett backstage at some show, and I'd say, hey, Brian, may I ask you, like, what are the chords to, you know, this Whole World, or Wouldn't It Be Nice? And, one of the great. Two of the greatest moments of my life. One time, Brian Wilson said to me, he said, you're. You're close. How did you figure these out? And I said, well, on, my mom's hi fi. I dropped the needle back and forth and tried to figure it out. And. And he said, well, you're close. Let me tell you a couple you got wrong on these chords. Another time that we were in Florida, and, they were playing with a. Some Florida symphony, a pet sound show. And the band held hands in a circle before going out there. And Brian said to his group, this was in 2001, and there's, like, you know, 20 people on stage. But Brian said, look, let's go out there and help these people be happy for two hours and forget their troubles. That Alex is here, Jeffrey's friend, and Alex is a pastor. And said, alex, pray for us before we go out there. And he squeezed my hand to pray. And, God is so good. I know, guys, this is. In the big scheme of things, this is maybe minuscule, but I used to ride my dad's tractor listening to a little AM radio, listening to the Beach Boys. And suddenly I'm, backstage with Brian, who is asking me about Jesus, having me pray over his group before they go out there. And, God is really good to let you experience your dreams. If you really. If you ask him. And if you're committed, he'll give you every dream you've ever dreamed ten times over.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

Dr. Alex McFarland talks about memories of Brian Wilson

All right. That's Dr. Alex McFarland. Alex's host of. Co host with the Bert Harper of Exploring the Word each afternoon here on afar from 3 to 4 o' clock Central Time, talking about his memories of his, interaction with Brian Wilson. The, Beach Boys lead singer and songwriter has passed away, yesterday. Thank you, Alex. We'll see you soon, my friend.

>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: God bless you guys. Bye.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, bye. Bye.

Steve: There are a lot of bad people in Hollywood. And you need to pray against them

Well, God, you ever had a brush with greatness like that besides being in the studio with us?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Being in the studio with you, Tim, talking about me. No, no, I know. I. No, I don't, I don't. I can't recall meeting. I will say this, this is not the same as what Alex is talking about when, my. My dad moved our family out of New England to San Diego for one year. My dad loved to travel and he wanted to move the family. And after that year, we complained enough that we moved back as we were away from family. But while we were there, we went to Sea World in San Diego and they were filming a Jerry Lewis movie. And so we're, we were behind the ropes and we were watching a scene being filmed a couple of times and we got to see Jerry Lewis. He ran right past me.

>> Tim Wildmon: Really.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I stuck my foot out and tripped him. And then we were banned. But no. And so Jerry Lewis ran out.

>> Tim Wildmon: Wow.

>> Ed Vitagliano: But that's the only thing I can think of, what I, what I would want to say. And I know folks are saying, why did you talk so long about that? But here's the thing, folks. there are a lot of people in Hollywood, the music industry, what, whatever have you, what have you, that we look at and we say, man, they're doing a lot of bad stuff. And they're doing. Their work is evil. And it, and, and listen, there is a lot of bad stuff out there. But I just want you to remember God loves those people. And you need to, in the midst of standing against what they're doing, pray that God will reach the person and save their soul. Because a lot of them are like, Alex described Brian Wilson. They're broken. They have difficult lives and a lot of problems, and they need Jesus just like anybody else.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen. Next story. Steve.

Brent Jennings: I think the protests in California will subside soon

>> Steve Jordahl: All right, you know, these protests in LA are spreading. We see them in a number of different cities. But I. Warning, fair warning to the protesters if they want to go to the state of Florida. Courtesy Ron DeSantis. This was him this morning.

>> Tim Wildmon: Should be governor.

>> Steve Jordahl: The governor of Florida. This would be cut.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: And we also have A policy that if you're driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you. you don't have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets.

>> Tim Wildmon: You.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: You have a right to defend yourself in Florida.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, I can't. I love Ron DeSantis as a governor. He is so common sense. And this. You see some of these videos, and I'm going to stop talking and let. Let Fred talk. and these people surround these cars, and these people don't know what to do. Yeah, Ron DeSantis just told them what they can do.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, what we're seeing in California, unfortunately, the state is reaping what it has sown. it has let these bad characters go. They arrest them and they let them go. And there's a mentality that has developed in states like Florida, some other places that we're allowed to do this. We're allowed to throw rocks at police cars. we're allowed to break into stores and looting and all of this sort of thing. and they've gotten away with it. What's going on in places like California right now? President Trump has said, well, we have an agency that's going to go after people who have entered this country illegally. We have a right to do that. And if you interfere, we're sending some soldiers in to help them out. This is what's going to happen to you. And now you have an attorney General, Pam Bondi, who used to work closely with Ron DeSantis in Florida. She's even saying to the looters, you may face federal charges. we're not going to put up with this nonsense anymore. These people aren't used to having law and order. They've been allowed to get away with their crimes, but now you have a new sheriff in town, he's called Donald Trump, and they're not going to put up with this anymore.

>> Steve Jordahl: One of the members of Congress, who isn't in charge of prosecuting this stuff, but said that they will be looking at who's providing the bridge bricks and all this stuff, and they might get them on RICO charges, which is conspiracy charges.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Now that,

>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I was going to say no. RICO charges sometimes are used abusively, but that sounds to me like that would be a valid use of the racket. I forget the rest of it, but organized crime, something.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I just think this is going to subside pretty soon. I just don't. I don't. I don't. I don't sense any real general population.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Momentum for no staying power.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know, this protest, how do.

>> Steve Jordahl: You compare it with 2020 less.

>> Tim Wildmon: Not comparable at all. BLM was fueled, by the images of, Was a guy in Minneapolis, George Floyd. Oh, the George Floyd images. And the fight, you know, the police, abuse of, young black males was the. You know, that was the. That was the motive. Stop the, racism and all that. It morphed into something bigger than it initially was. and that's. That had. That had momentum for. We saw the masses in the.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It caused billions.

>> Fred Jackson: We're just about to leave the program. But going back to the lead story, there's one passenger aboard that Air India plane that walked away.

>> Steve Jordahl: I, sent a video to Brent. I'm gonna ask his post, of this guy literally walking away.

>> Fred Jackson: Just saw the video. He was seating in 11A. In the airplane. He walked away.

>> Steve Jordahl: He was able to get up from the plane. It says.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Steve Jordahl: So go to our Facebook page and you can, you'll be able to see this video.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, give us a couple minutes and.

>> Steve Jordahl: No, right now.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Brend will get it posted.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Thanks for listening to Don't. Don't forget tomorrow we're doing a best of, trivia Friday. So we're not live tomorrow, but we got a best of, trivia Friday picked out for you. That's tomorrow.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So don't. You can listen, but don't call.